Gameplay metrics form the "bread and butter" telemetry data when evaluating design. These are the metrics that describe how people actually play games. But how do you work with them? In this two-parter, we take a look at the theoretical fundamentals that inform telemetry work at Game Analytics.

Given the huge degree of interest in game telemetry and the analysis of player behavior, not the least in the social online games/F2P area, it is no surprise that there is a steadily increasing stream of posts, articles and reports being released on various topics within analytics. We wanted to bring you some of the most interesting.

For people working with game analysis, gameplay metrics (measures of player behavior, e.g. navigation, item- and ability use, trading etc.) is the kind of data that - if data were gemstones – would be diamonds. And not the regular white, discount version but the flawless blue ones that we need Indiana Jones to steal back from bad-tempered natives in the South American jungle.

Analysing and mining game data is catching on rapidly across the gamut of developers and publishers, not only in games but also other forms of interactive digital entertainment. Because game data mining is still something that is being defined, there are a lot of myths circulating about what telemetry data from games is, how it is used and what data mining of these data can do for developers and publishers. Read on for a bit of game telemetry mythbustin´.

When something is missing or malfunctioning in a game, it affects how people play. When we see players spending twice as much time on level 5 as intended, something we did not plan for is happening. To find out why, to dive down into the data and find the root causes of player behavior, drill-down analysis is a flexible and intuitive method requiring minimal training.

When you have data about players behavior, server performance or system functionality, how do you convert it into something meaningful? How do you move from raw data to actionable insights? Game data mining is the answer - this is the umbrella term for the methods employed when working with game telemetry data. In this article, we describe what telemetry, metrics and data mining is, and introduce why data mining is useful in game development.